Thanks to a recent breakthrough in the study of marine algae, researchers have successfully engineered crop plants that can harness a wider range of sunlight for photosynthesis, leading to improved growth. This development has the potential to not only increase crop production but also enhance the production of biofuels.
Unlike terrestrial plants that have access to the red spectrum of sunlight, marine algae are limited to absorbing the blue-green spectrum due to the absorption of red light by seawater near the surface. To make the most of this restricted range of light, they have developed a special type of chlorophyll known as chlorophyll c.
On the other hand, land-based plants produce chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, which absorb violet-blue and orange-red light respectively, but are not efficient at absorbing blue-green light. However, what if a plant could produce all three types of chlorophyll - a, b, and c? This is where the recent study comes in.
Led by Assistant Professor Tingting Xiang, a team at the University of California Riverside identified the gene responsible for the production of chlorophyll c in dinoflagellates, a type of marine algae. They then introduced this gene into tobacco plants, which resulted in the synthesis of all three types of chlorophyll.
This modification allowed the tobacco plants to absorb a broader spectrum of sunlight, leading to a significant increase in their growth compared to the control group. While tobacco plants were used for the study, it is believed that this technology can be applied to any type of crop plant.
The researchers also believe that their findings can have implications for the production of biofuels derived from algae. This is because some species of aquatic algae already naturally produce chlorophyll a and b, but not c, similar to terrestrial plants. By introducing the gene for chlorophyll c into these algae, they could potentially grow faster and produce more oil.